KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A search effort for missing Montana skier will intensify this weekend with additional crews joining the effort in the backcountry near Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry says the 25-person search party was expected to double on Saturday with the addition of search and rescue crews from Lewis and Clark and Gallatin counties.

Curry tells the Daily Inter Lake that crews are conducting a “methodical, tree-by-tree” search in a one-half to two-thirds square mile area where 62-year-old Columbia Falls physician Jonathan Torgerson was last seen on Feb. 17.

Curry says the search was expected to continue through the weekend, but a winter storm forecast for Saturday could bring another foot of snow to the mountains. About a foot of snow fell the night Torgerson was reported missing.

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Information from: Daily Inter Lake, http://www.dailyinterlake.com

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A 29-year-old Minnesota man died in a snowmobile accident north of Yellowstone National Park in Montana.

Park County officials say it appears the man was riding alone on the side of a hill above a creek near Cooke City before losing control of his sled.

KULR-TV reports three other snowmobilers found the man Thursday face down in a creek with his snowmobile on top of him. Park County officials say they don’t know when the accident occurred.

The man’s name and hometown were being withheld until family members could be notified.

The death comes just over a week after a 45-year-old Canadian man died when he struck a tree near Cooke City. He had been riding his snowmobile on the side of a hill above a group of trees.

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Information from: KULR-TV, http://www.kulr8.com

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — For the second time this winter, someone broke into a holding pen for Yellowstone National Park bison, allowing the escape of 73 animals captured to prevent the spread of a wildlife disease.

Park officials said the Stephens Creek pen was opened Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Most of the 73 wild bison that escaped stayed nearby and eventually returned to the pen. Fifty-two bison escaped in a similar incident last month.

Bison captured as they leave the park during winter migrations are slaughtered or held in quarantine for possible relocation later.

Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said whoever broke into the pen was threatening the success of the quarantine program and ensuring more bison will be sent to slaughter.

SPRINGDALE, Utah (AP) — Zion National Park in Utah is closing access to 13 popular rock-climbing cliffs as part of an annual effort to protect sensitive nesting sites for peregrine falcons.

The National Park Service announced this week that climbing routes will close March 1 to let wildlife biologists monitor nesting activity of the formerly endangered raptors.

Affected routes include Angels Landing, Cable Mountain, North Twin Brother, Mountain of the Sun and Tunnel Wall.

Officials plan to reopen sites that don’t have nests by late April or early May.

Nest sites will be monitored until the chicks leave, typically in late July.

Zion is a sanctuary for the American peregrine falcon, a predatory bird that neared extinction in the 1970s but was removed from the endangered species list in 1999, after 20 years of recovery efforts.

(AP) — A 53-year-old Illinois man who fell to his death in Yellowstone National Park last year was looking for a supposed hidden cache of gold and jewels.

KULR-TV reports that Jeff Murphy of Batavia, Illinois, was looking for the treasure that antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn says he stashed somewhere in the Rocky Mountains several years ago.

The investigation by Yellowstone officials into Murphy’s death was kept private, but KULR obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The investigative report reveals Murphy’s wife told park authorities that Murphy was looking for the treasure when she called to report him missing.

Murphy’s body was found June 9, 2017. He had fallen about 500 feet down a steep slope.

The report ruled the death an accident.

Thousands have hunted in vain across remote corners of the Western U.S. for the supposed buried treasure.

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — Authorities say a missing 15-year-old teen who was separated from his family while snowmobiling in Utah has been found safe.

KUTV-TV reports the Cache County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday night the teen had been found after he had gone missing earlier in the day.

Authorities say the teen was able to make it to the road on his own and find help.

The teen went missing around 3:30 p.m. Monday in Logan Canyon near the Beaver Creek Lodge.

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Information from: KUTV-TV, http://www.kutv.com/

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A search continued Tuesday for a backcountry skier reported missing near Big Mountain over the weekend.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the missing man is 62-year-old Jonathan Scott Torgerson of Columbia Falls, a physician at North Valley Hospital in Whitefish.

Torgerson was reported overdue Saturday night after skiing alone outside the boundary of Whitefish Mountain Resort just before a storm moved in, bringing strong winds and a foot of snow to the area.

On Sunday, wind gusts up to 50 mph and wind chills near minus 30 were reported near the top of Big Mountain.

Curry says Torgerson’s family told searchers he was wearing an avalanche transceiver but they had not picked up a signal.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A family says an Orem man they considered to be part of their family died in an avalanche in Wyoming.

The Deseret News reports Alex Marra of Orem died Saturday after being trapped in an avalanche near Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

According to Teton County Wyoming Search and Rescue, Marra was trapped in Rock Springs Canyon late Saturday morning.

Officials say Marra’s ski partner was not injured in the incident.

Seth Saunders says his family saw Marra as a son and brother.

The Marras and the Saunders family met in Bainbridge, Ohio, more than three decades have stayed close ever since.

Saunders says Marra enjoyed skiing and other outdoor sports, was adventurous and lived life to its fullest.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Authorities say a leaping elk brought down a research helicopter trying to capture the animal in the mountains of eastern Utah.

Wasatch County authorities say the elk jumped into the chopper’s tail rotor as it flew about 10 feet above ground, trying to capture the animal with a net.

The two people on board weren’t seriously hurt, but wildlife officials say the elk died of its injuries.

The state-contracted Texas-based crew was trying to capture and sedate the elk so they could give it a tracking collar and research its movements about 90 miles east of Salt Lake City.

Mark Hadley with the state Division of Wildlife Resources says the state helicopters are frequently used to monitor remote wildlife and this is the first such accident in Utah.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana wildlife officials are recommending against holding a grizzly bear hunt in 2018 after the animals lost their federal protections across a three-state region around Yellowstone National Park.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Martha Williams said Thursday the state wants to demonstrate its commitment to the grizzly’s long-term recovery.

State wildlife commissioners will consider the matter Feb. 15.

An estimated 700 grizzly bears roam the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — up from an estimated 136 when they were given protections in the mid-1970s.

Federal officials lifted protections last year, opening the door to hunts for the first time in decades.

Wyoming game commissioners last month said they want grizzly hunting regulations to be drafted. That means hunting could begin this fall.

No Idaho decision has been made.